NBA 2K14 Server Problems Not Yet Resolved

Consumers have struggled with the next-gen version of NBA 2K14 for various reasons since its release but the last week now has been especially painful. Server outages and related errors have persisted. Despite the efforts made to get things back up and running properly Monday the barriers to play remain for many and outrage is at a fever pitch on social media and elsewhere.

Unlike server trouble for most other games, which would knock out just the online-based modes, NBA 2K14 on the PS4 and Xbox One is built with an always-online structure that means just about everything is reliant on being connected to the servers. That includes the single player offline modes MyCareer and MyGM (formerly Association). The reasoning for such design ties back to the awful VC implementation that requires constant communication with the servers. It’s not just Xbox One and PS4 owners facing trouble either as the 360 and PS3 versions of Online Association have been down as well.

While the crashing that has prevented people from playing their MyCareer and MyGM modes has only affected some, the last week of issues have hurt all consumers in one way or more. Whether that be the inability to play online games or MyTeam, or MyCareer and MyGM saves becoming inaccessible or even deleted, the new bugs in MyGM preventing changes to contract offers and advancing in the playoffs, or VC/money being lost in transactions, this is a troubling time for the high profile series that has seen its brand damaged severely in the process.

Add an apology for giving up on football after the first try like a bunch of cowards, and you’ll get my signature.

Details

I wouldn’t go as far as calling them cowards although I feel your pain lol. That was strictly a business decision. Unfortunately APF 2K8 just didn’t sell enough to justify another game. As bad as we all want competition, I just can’t see any other company stepping up without the NFL license. The NFL is the real blame (even though 2K shot themselves in the foot by selling NFL 2K5 for $20).

Iown You

APF didn’t sell well, true. But that was because of poor design choices and an abysmal marketing campaign that was talked about more in jest than the game itself, not because no one wanted a non-NFL game.

You know why Blitz The League 1 (a non-NFL game) sold so well? It was designed properly from a conceptual standpoint, it had an identity, a league presence, great team names, professional logos, and because of that it gave the game an image that felt believable even though it was still an arcade game. Midway fully understood what they had to do to make the game something that would grab people’s attention. It also had a story that was fun to be a part of. You felt like you were actually a part of something bigger than just the game on the field.

^^^ 2K did none of those things and that’s why All-Pro Football failed. 2K thought a football game with zero identity was going to fly. Clearly, they were high, lol. They could’ve given it a better try (why am I rhyming?)… It’s not like MLB 2K was selling much better, in fact it did worse in some years, same with NHL. But they still kept giving those games a try over and over and over again. 2K could’ve/should’ve made another attempt.

Lastly, 2K didn’t shoot themselves in the foot with the NFL over the $20 thing. That’s a long-standing myth that Pecover V. Electronics Arts completely dispelled as fiction. The fact is it was EA that went ape shit over the $20 price tag and began aggressively seeking the exclusive to put an end to it. Those are not my words, those are the words documented in the Federal case files which are still available for view online. What 2K did was embarrass EA by selling a superior product for a fraction of the cost, and EA decided to take the ball and go home rather than stand up and win on the field. Almost 10 years later, they’re the only player in the market and STILL somehow getting beaten. The sales numbers for Madden right now are BRUTAL with a capital B.

Details

Agree with everything you said but even though EA aggressively pursued the license, the fact that 2K sold the game for $20 enticed the NFL to put the license up for bid knowing that EA was the only company that had a realistic shot of obtaining it. I’m no lawyer by any means lol but I would argue that both the NFL & EA should be sewed for some type of congruent joint monopoly case (if they haven’t already). Imagine how far along videogame football would be by now if 2K had been able to stay in the game since 2K5? Madden is just now getting true footplanting & double team blocking in 2014? LMAO!

Iown You

“the fact that 2K sold the game for $20 enticed the NFL to put the license up for bid knowing that EA was the only company that had a realistic shot of obtaining it.”

But that scenario can only be considered speculation. What we know for a fact from Pecover V. Electronic Arts is:

1. The NFL was not actively seeking an exclusive license from EA.

2. EA, not the NFL, expressed anger about NFL 2K’s $20 price tag. We have EA on record speaking angrily about it (Pecover V. Electronic Arts). We have no such evidence from the NFL.

3. It was EA that enticed the NFL to do an exclusive license right after becoming aware of NFL 2K5’s $20 price tag (this again is confirmed by the evidence in Pecover V. Electronic Arts).

The reason EA was concerned about that, is because of the threat it posed to their then current market share. A $20 football game, especially a superior one, was going to wrestle away a good chunk of the market that Madden had been dominating, and at 4.25 Million copies sold NFL 2K5 wrestled away a tremendous chunk.

Also, when people mention the NFL being mad about the $20 situation, they’re assuming that the terms of the non-exclusive deal at the time with 2K meant that they were only being paid per unit sold, which is the only reason the NFL could possibly care about the MSRP. While it is customary in licensing to deal in a percentage of units sold, it’s also not uncommon to pay a flat fee for rights for a specific period of time. Without us knowing the exact terms of the deal, and since there is no material evidence that the NFL was concerned with the $20 price tag, we can’t assume that the $20 situation had any bearing on the NFL’s decision to accept an exclusive.

^^^ But see, no one is considering that because they’ve been fed the same false story for so long that no other angle can even be conceived at this point.

Everyone should know about these things, and had the sports gaming media reported on this with the seriousness it deserved, the disaster Madden is having in sales right now may have happened sooner. Consumers can deal with a bad product, but they explode when concrete evidence of bullshit is brought to light just look at the explosion against Microsoft over the XBOX One shenanigans. The media failed to provide that opportunity, and to this day most football gamers believe a completely different story than the one that actually happened and it’s contributed to Madden being treated with kid gloves for so long that they’ve been allowed to pull shenanigan after shenanigan, uncontested by the media, and Tiburon got away uncontested… until now. This year, Tiburon’s luck ran the FUCK out.

Keith.

Exactly.

Skopin

I think APF would have sold a lot more if it was fully featured. The problem was that it was so bare-bones when it came to features and modes that it had very little replay value. They essentially ported NFL 2k5, but left out the modes.

Details

Agreed. Gameplay was superior to Madden but the fact that they didn’t have the NFL license to work with really put them behind the 8 ball. They needed to fully flesh out everything else in order to stand out & they dropped the ball (no pun intended lol). Graphics could’ve been better also.

Keith.

If you’ll remember, back then, places like IGN and Pasta didn’t even really give APF a fair shot. EA was still dominating the conversation on account of the exclusive license, and the easy pot shots that the major gaming media was able to take at APF due to the novel concept and on account of going up against EA, which not only had the exclusive licenses but was also putting on the best media parties around (Madden Super Bowl and Season Kick Off events, etc.). The fix was in and APF had an uphill climb from the start, although the total sales numbers, in hindsight, don’t look that bad at all for an unlicensed game.

Keith.

APF didn’t sell that poorly, especially compared to some licensed games like Live, NHL, TW and MLB2K. APF combined with BB customization and physics would outsell M26 2-1, no doubt in my mind.

Skopin

Not with its basic set of modes. A single season mode and play now along with online head to head is not enough to keep gamers satisfied. It could have sold well if they really put the effort in, regardless of NFL licensing (or lack thereof).

Iown You

I would’ve been satisfied with just that if the league presence was fleshed out at least, and the customization wasn’t so restricted.

They made the two biggest mistakes that absolutely could not be made with a game like this and it killed them… and us.

It must be all the amazing GB’s that are making the server struggle to deal with the awesomeness!

<3

I am even having issues with xbox360!!! When I can’t play MyTeam I try and MyCareer and it doesn’t work so I try and do a shoot around and a shoot around at practice won’t even work either!? Like WTH!?

JKE

Will wait anxiously for Keith to talk about how nothing is wrong and how he’s killing it in The Park. Which doesn’t even work either.

MBird

Come on, you forgot to put “great mode” in parenthesis after The Park.

Keith.

And that’s the thing — The Park is a GREAT new mode. I’m 42 and have never seen anything like it. 3 v. 3 — even with complete strangers — is virtual crack. I even enjoy watching other games being played around me while I’ve “got next.” If 2K gets their servers straightened out, they’re sitting on a pile of gold with The Park.

Skopin

It’s not really that innovative. It’s essentially crew mode where you have to wait in line to play a game. Yea, it’s cool and all, but you’re making it out to be way more than it is.

“If 2K gets their servers straightened out […]”

Well, they haven’t gotten it right in at least the last 5 years, so I wouldn’t count on it anytime soon. Also, I thought you haven’t had any problems at all with 2k’s servers? What gives?

Keith.

I couldn’t get on last Sunday, which was no big deal. Got 7 games at The Park in this morning, along with a game in MyCareer, and the servers seemed to be humming along just fine.

swimfunk

I don’t get your excitement over The Park. Like Skopin said it’s basically unorganized crew mode. Except you can have 6’8″ guys with handles like CP3 vs 5 6’2″ bums.

I don’t see how its fun to sit and watch other people play a video game, especially when I only have a couple hours to play every night and half of that is spent watching other people play. If I want to watch other people play I can hop on PS4 Share and watch them play all night. You don’t know the score or how much time is left. Nothing beats waiting for 20 min only to lose your spots or get d/c from the servers. Seems like a waste of time.

The game play in the park is trash as well. It’s nothing but dudes spamming the steal button running up and down for dunks. It could be fun maybe if you played with friends but that doesn’t seem to be working either.

Maybe they could incorporate some tonnry’s via White Men Can’t Jump or something but I don’t get your excitement over this mode. It’s seems like all hype and no substance. What differentiates this from Blacktop besides the waiting for games??

Keith.

Your comment tells me you haven’t been playing The Park.

First, you definitely DO see the score (and there’s no such thing as “the time left”) when you play The Park, as soon as you get in line for “got next.” Used to be you had to have a game played, but the second patch made it so you see the score when you hit “x” for “got next.” The fact that you don’t know that shows me you really don’t know what you’re talking about, swimfunk, when it comes to NBA 2k14 and The Par.

Second, as if that wasn’t enough, you definitely DON’T see guys spamming the “steal” button or seeing dunks all over the place, if you play in The Park. I’ve probably played 35 games, total, in The Park and am here to tell you that you’ll see plenty of pump fakes, positional defense, high flying dunks — pretty much you’ll see everything — regardless of whether you’re playing 3 v. 3, 2 v. 2, or 5 v. 5. Usually online play is a prime opportunity for cheese, but not so far with The Park, in my experience.

Finally, I never played The Crew mode but I can’t imagine they let everybody have their own duds, their own post-game taunts, the ability to watch up to 7 games being played around you, etc. If it did, then clearly I missed out. But being able to watch up to 7 realistic games being played out around me as I’ve got next is definitely nothing I’ve ever seen in a sports game before, and I’ve been playing ’em since the mid-70s.

swimfunk

ah nice, glad they fixed the problem with the scores. I still dont understand your excitement over watching other people play video games. I prefer to play video games rather than sitting there watching other people play.

To each his own I guess..

If only 2K put as much work into “The Park” as it did with online leagues. I guess no VC in OL so no OL.

IToldYouAboutThoseServersBro

Eh, well that’s because compared to other mediums, gaming is still very young. Not to take anything away from the mode. It’s similar to just playing a shooter with randoms, only it’s basketball.

If 2K gets their servers straightened out, is a pretty big “if”. People nowadays walk around saying that as if it’s one of the easier things to do when it’s not. 2K getting their servers straight, would be at this point be comparable to Madden improving as a game. It’s not just “OK, make servers better. Noted” It’s a process.

Keith.

Knock on wood, but I’ve been getting games in at The Park off and on all day. If you want to jump in some Park games together, hit me up on PSN at GTHobbes.

knownfugur

XBOX fix this stuff battlefield hasn’t been up in days and now NBA? we all paid all this money and the games are useless!!

Livest

? I play battlefield everyday you might want to call xbox

CSaint

just finished playing an online game of battlefield I’m on PS4

Dagreat2nd

What’s up with the achievements on xbox one?

Relly

New year same problems, the park feature just simply doesnt work. Only one court worked at the park last night, everyone else was running around trying to get “next” and getting kicked off the circle smh. SMH SMH SMH

Nathan Shane Long

IGN AND GAMESPOT makes me sick it is so clear that they were in 2K pockets to say nothing but great things about next gen 2K and to go on a SMEAR CAMPAIGN against NBA LIVE 14 AND DOWNGRADE LIVE RESURRECTION AND RETURN and give it nothing but horrible reviews but look at how the tables have turned it’s looks like now that 2K has no answer to their servers problems all the 2K fanboys are crying they can’t play their precious “MY PLAYER” and the game is just ruined and an EPIC FAILURE while Live 14 is a great foundation to build upon for the future and Live 15 next October all EA has to do is vastly improve the graphics and visuals and Live would be KING once again

jr

Certified bullshit. Went to play my player today and it completely kicked me out of the game itself with an error code. Then when I get the game back on, it took 5 minutes for it to connect to servers only to not connect at all. I don’t give 2 shits how beautiful this game is, it’s worthless if you can’t even do anything online. I should have kept Live. Gameplay was shitty but at least you could use an online feature and actually enjoy it without getting booted

KeithJr

My name is Keith. Nothing is wrong with this game. I get free VC because 2k is awesome. I have 4 game win streaks with strangers. YAY.

In all seriousness 2k is the definition of fail at this point.

MattW

This next-gen stuff is really becoming frustrating. Its only going to get worse, too. Games are now releasing in a beta state and these consoles haven’t seemed ready, either.

bltzkrieg666

Where’s Kruk to give us a stock quote to explain away this ineptness or some other dim witted comment on how 2k is better than EA so all is forgiven or perhaps he will give us his fantasy report of how his version of the game is perfect and his perfect internet connection which is somehow superior to EVERYONE else’s internet connection. Where are you KRUK?

fantasyboi

LMAO!!! yes sir!!! Kruk, Where u at? (Cris Carter voice)

Keith.

With NBA Live selling the way it is (37,000 total on PS4 in the U.S. after 5 weeks?? Yikes!), I’m really surprised that YOU’RE showing your head around these parts, Daley. Then again, it must be pretty lonely in the NBA Live forums. LoL

And in other news NBA LIVE 14 still works 100% day in and day out, something 2k could never say EVER.

AustinP

I have been a lucky one with whe game working, but doesn’t change my disdain for the game.. For all the talk about how good the game is itself minus the VC, I have about 20 videos showing otherwise. I wish I could play a game that doesn’t require you to score 120 to win with horrible glitches and poor faceplate (suctioning and being stuck in animations that people have complained about in Madden for the better part of a decade). This game is a failure on all fronts. VC, servers, gameplay…all adds up to an epic failure of what was supposed to be so promising.

pc player

still not fucking fixed

Twan007

Try to let the game intro play all the way out. You should connect then. It do for me.

Shawtyred3

How many times a week is this going to be wrote about?! Lol. We get it. The game is broken. But its the best looking broken game we have ever seen.

I’ve actually felt I wasn’t covering it enough. It almost needs a daily update – for one of the biggest games of the year to not be working people want the latest info and pressure on the company to get the problems fixed.

Details

Having 2K14 is like having a Ferrari sitting in your garage that looks beautiful but the only problem is you can’t drive it because the engine doesn’t work lol. But hey it’s the best looking broken car that just sits there collecting dust! Wtf?

bltzkrieg666

Unless your Kruk, and then you will just tell everyone that I just wanted to keep it in the garage and didn’t want to put miles on it.

Al

Hey pasta, it’s not even the crappy 2k servers being the main issue

It’s the online drm bs thats the biggest issue, microsoft received the most negative feedback when they attempted to do this, why is 2k getting away with this? Why arent more gaming sites writing an article about this?

2k has got to make a statement, on their plans in the future.

Then the server, smh it’s been almost two weeks and a lot of people still cant play their damn game, how long is it gonna take, 2 months?

Skopin

Because 2k didn’t advertise it’s DRM policy. I guarantee had people known about the always online requirement the sales would be less than half of what they are.

Seriously though, if I had been informed before I bought the game that it was online only, I would’ve told everyone I know to stay away. The sheer absurdity of pushing this kind of DRM on everyone just so they could insure control of micro-transactions is completely heinous.

MBird

I think the main concern about this game NOW for me is a complete lack of trust in 2K and this game. These blind 2K supporters and mouthpieces that you see and hear are completely wrong in their insistence that this game is anything but broken. Why is it broken? Simple, because the game doesn’t work the way it was/is intended to. I find myself checking the game’s status on internet sites and forums to make sure that it is a good idea to fire it up when I get home from work. I fail to understand why, when selling a game, a gaming company would want that as a concern among its consumers (which I’m sure they don’t, but it’s there now regardless). I’ve lost VC, and for a awhile earlier this week, I thought that I may have lost all my progress in MyGM, of which so far, I haven’t, lucky I guess, unlike some others who have lost much more. This game is beyond disappointing, so much hype and promise, and so much of that unfulfilled.

shimoda

2k is arrogant and dumb!!! 2k sucks!!!

Twan007

There is a fix for this. Just let the intro load all the way through. dont jump the gun when the game loads up. Works for me!!

Toriano Winston

We can’t even play team up which is a favorite this game just totaly separated us !!!!!

Skopin

But you can still access your offline saves and play those game modes. If it’s an ongoing server issue, then it deserves an article. If it’s down for a few hours or even a day, it’s not as big of a deal.

Edit: just saw they were hacked. That does deserve an article.

Skopin

Microsoft’s plan wasn’t always online though. It was a 24-hour check-in. Not saying it’s much better but it is different.

Skihawks

And 2K’s response below:

Add chirping crickets

bltzkrieg666

Sorry Kruk but the problem was on my end and I solved it myself. Sorry to disappoint you. How much time did you waste search for that crap Kruk. You truly must have no life especially since your beloved 2k is failing day in and day out. Just for the record, the problem I was having was due to a PS4 issue which was solved by doing nothing more than reuploading my setting file which didn’t upload properly. Do better Kruk. You are supporting a sinking ship and everyone knows it. NBA2k is tantamount to the Roman Empire and we all know what happened to that Kruk.

CSaint

they were hacked into bud.

fantasyboi

can we just get news about MLB The Show from here on out PLEASE!!!!

KT

New sports gaming writer at iDigitalTimes and I have definitely reported on 2Ks issues following Pasta’s footsteps. Big shout-out to Pasta.

Appreciated. Glad to see others who want to shine a light on consumer issues.

Twan007

Try to let the game intro play all the way out it should fix connection problems. It works for me. My career and my gm works now.

Details

And this is what our Next Gen experience has come to LMAO! (Me) Hey babe…don’t forget to set my alarm for 4:30am ok? (Girlfriend) “Why, are you working early tomorrow?” (Me) No, I wanna get a game in but it only seems to work before sunrise! (Girlfriend) “You mean that PS4 you paid $700+ on with all your games only works during certain times?” (Me) Yeah babe I guess this is what I paid for smh…Us gamers are just sitting around waiting for patches to get the games to work properly. (Girlfriend) “Patches, what the hell are patches?” (Me) Oh just nevermind smh.

Brian

I can’t believe the last gen birthed such a freak frankenstein offspring as this piece of…

Tetsuo

COT DAMN! This dude actually hit Twitter and copy/pasted an entire history of conversation to prove a point that is actually ridiculous because it’s still just a singular response in comparison to an ENTIRE game going down.

Internets, what monster have you created? I mean damn, I love(ed) 2K as much as the next gamer, but holy shit son- how much Kool-Aid have you been drinking?

jjj28c

Everyday it is getting clearer that all the people who protested the always online policies basically saved the industry from itself.

qwiwheet

They need to take all exclusive rights from whoever has it. This allows any company to make sports games for gamers not greed 2k you pieces of s#@$!!!!!. I have not been able to play my gm season mode for 4 days. It won’t even load up. It give me a error code every time. TRASH!!!!!!

Skopin

The NBA license is open to anyone who wants to pay for it. There is no exclusivity.

Yeah. I’m waiting on Keith to explain how this happened in such a perfect game. I had some more but they aren’t on this phone. Shorts disappearing, players running through other players. 2k is no different than a ea product. Just looks good

Twan007

Try to let the game intro play all the way out it should fix connection problems. It works for me. My career and my gm works now.

Twan007

Try to let the game intro play all the way out it should fix connection problems. It works for me. My career and my gm works good.

jr

People are receiving refunds for 2k14. Where are you at with the links Keith. Lmao. This truly deserves it’s own article pasta

MARZ76

take vc/money out of 2k or have separate an very very optional. make it be a cloud servers or sumthing u have to download to use thats not on the disc.